Paramount has officially announced the acquisition of The Free Press, an independent and fast-growing media organization that originated from the Substack platform, marking a striking intersection between legacy broadcasting and the new frontier of digital-first journalism. According to a statement released on Monday, this transaction not only expands Paramount’s media portfolio but also ushers in a significant leadership shift: Bari Weiss, the founder of The Free Press, will assume the prestigious role of editor-in-chief at CBS News. This appointment represents a calculated effort by Paramount to rejuvenate its network news division with leadership that blends traditional editorial rigor with the entrepreneurial acumen of the modern independent press.
Before conceiving The Free Press, Weiss established her professional reputation at two of the most influential institutions in American journalism. Between 2013 and 2017, she served as both an opinion and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal, honing her editorial voice and developing a network of commentators across a wide spectrum of political thought. Following this, she transitioned to The New York Times, where she played a pivotal role in curating opinion content during a transformative period in U.S. political discourse, specifically the early years of the Trump administration. Her mandate included broadening the ideological diversity of the Times’ opinion section by recruiting and cultivating conservative columnists, an initiative that reflected her enduring interest in fostering intellectual pluralism within mainstream media outlets. However, in 2020, Weiss tendered her resignation from the Times, publicly explaining that her departure stemmed from what she referred to as an increasingly “illiberal environment,” a workplace atmosphere she felt constrained open debate and dissenting perspectives.
In 2021, Weiss ventured into the world of subscription-based publishing, launching a Substack newsletter titled Common Sense. The project quickly evolved—both in scope and influence—into The Free Press, which she positioned as a media company built, as she described, upon core journalistic principles that once defined America’s most respected news institutions: independence, integrity, and ideological diversity. Data from Paramount’s press release highlight the publication’s remarkable growth trajectory—The Free Press expanded its revenue by an impressive 82 percent over the past year, while its readership surged by 86 percent to a total of 1.5 million subscribers, including approximately 170,000 paid memberships. This expansion underscores the growing consumer appetite for independent voices that operate outside the traditional gatekeeping structures of legacy newsrooms.
The announcement of Weiss’s appointment as the new head of CBS News also arrives amid heightened political scrutiny of mainstream broadcasters. The Trump administration previously reached a $16 million legal settlement following a contested CBS interview with then–Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024. Subsequently, that same administration approved a major merger between Skydance and Paramount, attaching a stipulation that CBS commit to offering what it described as a stronger “diversity of viewpoints” across the political and ideological spectrum. Though framed broadly, the mandate was widely interpreted as a governmental push for greater representation of conservative voices in broadcast media—an objective that Weiss’s editorial philosophy may naturally help fulfill. The administration’s pressure campaign was not limited to CBS alone; it reportedly extended to other major networks and publications, including ABC, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, further illustrating the tense relationship between political power and journalistic institutions in the current era.
While Paramount has not publicly disclosed the specific financial terms of its acquisition, a report from The New York Times suggests that the company paid approximately $150 million in a combination of cash and stock to secure ownership of The Free Press. Under the terms of the agreement, Weiss will continue to oversee the publication’s independent operations even as she takes on her new responsibilities at CBS News. In a memo addressed to staff, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison characterized the dual appointment as both a strategic investment in CBS’s editorial revitalization and a broader affirmation of media pluralism. He commended Weiss for her commitment to “amplifying voices from all corners of the spectrum,” indicating Paramount’s intention to harness her independent spirit and editorial boldness to reshape CBS into a platform more reflective of diverse national discourse. The move, therefore, signifies far more than a simple acquisition: it marks an ambitious attempt to integrate legacy broadcasting traditions with the creativity, responsiveness, and ideological openness emblematic of the digital news era.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/news/792752/cbs-news-paramount-the-free-press-acquisition-bari-weiss
